Beauty + chocolate? It’s like… every girl’s dream coming true! I
Kit Kat in Japan is now selling special collaborative items - with TBC : one of the most popular beauty salons in Japan.
The flavors of the “Kit Kat x TBC” are Aloe Yoghurt and Bitter Almond. Sounds delicious!
And, there are new flavors in Japan’s Kit Kat in addition to my previous posts Kit Kat in Japan and Kit Kat in Japan 2.
Using technology originally developed for ASIMO the robot, Honda produced a personal mobility device U3-X. Housed within the large wheel are a series of smaller wheels that can rotate independently, allowing the awkwardly perched user to go forward, backward, side-to-side or diagonally.
I always get overwhelmed by Japanese technology… I mean, there are similar products such as Segway and Winglet, but Honda keens to point out that this U3-X is portable (less than 10 kg) and easy to use, with fold away footrests and seat cushions.
Segway
Honda U3-X
Maybe we will see elderlies using this compact U3-X around the house in near future 
(Youtube)
Last night I was invited to my friend’s house for dinner. The couple (and one kid) is leaving Australia for good, and going to live in their hometown, Tokyo. I miss them, and I must say I’m a little envious. They are going back to the place where their families and friends are. I could feel they’re excited
Other friends were also invited to the dinner, and this couple made Pupusa - El Salvador’s version of the tortilla – with cheese and zucchini for us. It was my first time to eat Pupusa, and I really loved it! Grated zucchini and cheese are wrapped inside the cornflour dough, then flatten and shape, and grill with butter until crispy. I would definitely want to try making this dish at home. This was served with tomato salsa, and it matched with melty cheese… It was delicious.
This friend was married to a guy from El Salvador, and she told me that she makes pupusa everyday for the husband. Although Pupusa is a delicious dish, we wondered if he is ever going to be bored with eating pupusa everyday, but then realized that this dish is like steamed rice to him. We, Japanese, won’t get bored with eating rice everyday. It’s a same thing 
The host (the couple leaving Australia) made several foods, including potato salad with avocado and aioli sauce, rice noodle salad (Japanese style), chicken nanban with homemade tartar sauce, and! simmered Go-ya salad with dried bonito flakes. She is an amazing cook.
On the other hand, I just brought Fish Head Mee Fun. :p My husband assumed that they won’t be able to eat this Malay Chinese dish in Japan (I agree), so we bought one normal one with clear soup, and one in laksa. I hope they enjoyed it.
We ate so much….. I felt heart-burn when I woke up this morning. (><)
… today’s bagels.
It’s getting cold and difficult to manage the yeast-proofing timing. (although summer has the same problem as the temperature is too high: around 40°, and the dough proof very quickly.
I’m off to go now!
I’m sure cheese cake is one of the popular cakes among all countries. Perth too, I see cheese cakes at most of the cake shops and even in the supermarkets here. But, most of them are too sweet to me. That’s why I don’t usually buy cakes from shops here, and try to make by myself.
The other day I baked Souffle Cheese Cake and gave the half piece to my sister in-law. I told her “it’s souffle cheese cake”, then she asked me “is it same as the one they sell at the shops here?”. I wasn’t quite sure if there’re any shops selling souffle cheese cake in Perth, so I told her “I’m not sure, but this is not a baked cheese cake.”
I was surprised that she didn’t know the difference between “baked” cheese cake, “souffle” cheese cake, and “raw” cheese cake. She thought all the cheese cakes are baked in the oven. I was surprised, because she is the type of person who goes out very often and eat out at many nice restaurants. She likes food, and knows many kinds of famous franchise shops around the world. So, I assumed that she would know the differences in different types of cakes.
Anyway, after the conversation, I realised that cheese cakes sold here are called just “cheese cakes”. In Japan we have several types of cheese cakes, and the main three types are “baked”, “souffle” and “raw”. Raw cheese cake is the one which the filling is set using gelatin, and served chilled.
I’ve been making cheese cakes with different recipes lately, and one question came up to me.
What do people in Perth look for in cheese cakes? Is it the rich cheese-y taste? Is it the moist texture? Or, would people like fluffy sponge-like cheese cake?
But, I think, people here prefer the cheese cake with rich, melty texture. Can anyone give me any advice??
It’s really getting cold in Perth ~…. (do I say this too much? :p )
I really miss kotatsu: which is a wooden table with electric heater built in, and covered by a heavy blanket. People in Japan spend most of the day around this kotatsu. We don’t stay inside of the blanket, as it’ll get really hot, but we keep out legs and sometimes half the body inside the blanket and watch tv. Most of the case we fell asleep after few hours…
I like winter, love the cold air and the snow. It was snowing heavily when I was born, my mum says. I was born in February, and the road was frozen when my mum had to rush into the hospital. It was very early morning, around 2am, and the outside was pure white because of the snow.
One thing I don’t like about winter is the short daytime. The sun shows up late, and sun goes down early. It starts to get dark around 5pm these days. So, if I want to take some pictures I need to do it before 3~4 pm and it is quite a rush to me.
In this cold weather, what I miss is the hearty Japanese winter food. You can enjoy some of them, including sukiyaki and oden at some Japanese restaurants. Or, you can simple make them by yourself! Check out delicious Japanese beef curry recipe from here , or add tomato and arrange it into a soupy Japanese curry like this recipe here. I also recommend white stew (in Japan we call it “cream stew”) in winter. Check the recipe here. Making them are very easy. You can buy a packet of roux from grocery shops, and you’ll just need to add some vegetables and meat. Leave it overnight for deeper, developed flavor.
If you want to make oden, the best place to go for shopping is Emma’s Seafood grocery store in Northbridge, I think. They sell many Japanese products including oden seasoning, and also fish cakes for oden are available inside the store. I sometimes buy 1 kg of them and do oden party here You’ll also need konnyaku, daikon radish, firm tofu and boiled eggs etc for oden. The best thing to add is gyu-suji (bits of beef tendon) if you can find! Great with warm sake.
Email: me@umeboss.com
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